10 January â The last convict ship to Western Australia, the Hougoumont, arrives in Western Australia. This brought the end of penal transportation to Australia.
FebruaryâÂÂMay â A series of atrocities in retaliation to the killing of a police officer, a police assistant, and a local workman result in the deaths of between 15 and 150 Aboriginal people around Flying Foam Passage on Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula) in Western Australia. These atrocities are later referred to as the Flying Foam Massacre.
12 March â Henry James O'Farrell fires a revolver into the back of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (second son of Queen Victoria) while the latter is picnicking in the beachfront suburb of Clontarf. It was Australia's first attempted political assassination. O'Farrell first claimed that he was acting under instruction from MelbourneFenians but later retracted the claims. He had problems with alcoholism and mental illness.